Flat knitting frame



April 21, 1936. A. RICHTER 2,038,449

FLAT KNITTING FRAME Filed March 17, 1934 Patented 21, 1936 uNirEo STATESPATENT. oFFic-E Chemnitz, Germany Application March 17,1934, Serial No.716,188

' In Germany February 8, 1934 4 Claims. ,(ol. 66989 This inventionrelates to a flat knitting frame, especially to a full-fashioned hosierymachine. .The narrowing machine, carrying also the lock stitchattachment, the lace-clock attachment etc., is disfrosed above thespring beard needles, when in inoperative position. In this inoperativeposition the narrowing machine is held by round cams arranged beside thecams for raising and lowering the. narrowing machine. The motions of thecovering needles from the inoperative position to the lowest positionand back again are necessarily greater than the rising and loweringmotions of thespring needles, and'to avoid having to reduce the workingspeed of the machineiduring narrowing, it has been proposed to cause thecovering needles to carry out vertical movements also while the camshaftis'not racked. According to the present invention the cams on the camshaft are arranged to cause the covering needles, which stand beforefashioning in inoperative positions above the spring needles, tocommence their downward transfer movements before the cam shaft isracked. The covering needles thus are relatively independent as to thesemotions from the rackingof the camshaft, and it becomes possible to havethe covering needles carry out during racking only the actual workingmotions while the motions required for rendering the covering needlesoperative and-inoperative are effected before or after the rocking ofthe main shaft. There will thus be sumcient time before and afterracking slowly to bring the covering needles into initial workingposition and back again, and they covering needles motions duringracking may be slowed down also, since in this machine position thecovering needles move only from initial working to low position and bacto a position corresponding to the initial position.

One form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich Figure l is a diagrammatic oblique view of the parts serving toactuate the narrowing machine and Figs. 2, 3 and 4 aredetail views ofvarious positions of the knitting tools.

In order to make it possible to carry out the motions ,of the. coveringneedles I more slowly.

' than can be done at present when the camshaft 2 is racked, the needlesI are vertically adjusted,

according to the invention, also'when the camshaft is not racked. In theexample shown, the covering needles I,- when the camshaft 2 is racked,

are brought only fromtheir initial workingposition to their low positionand back again to a position corresponding to the initial workingposition, whereas the motions from the latter to I .the arms t8 willmaintain the narrowing machine,

.inoperative position and thence to initial working position are carriedout when the camshaft 2 is not racked. The.distance covered by theneedles I from inoperative to initial working position amounts toapproximately 50% of the total distance, and as the respective motion iscarried out already before racking of the camshaft 2, it is evident thatduring the subsequent racking approximately 50% more time is availablefor the motion of the covering needles I from initial 10 working to lowposition than was possible hitherto. a

To carry out this subdivision of the motions of the covering needles Itwo cams 4, 5 in addition to the usual rotary disc 3 are provided on thecamshaft 2 for imparting vertical motions to the narrowing machine 6.The rotary disc 3 cooperates with a roller lever 8 disposed on thenarrowing shaft 1 and the cams 4, '5 control the 'roller lever 9oscillatorily arranged in the front portion of the machine and acting onthe narrowing machine 6 by means of the vertical bar iii, thearrangement being such that the roll I l of the lever 8, when thecamshaft 2 is not racked, is carried by the disc 3 so as to hold thenarrowing machine 6' and the needles I thereof in inoperative position,as indicated in Fig. 2. During racking of the camshaft 2 in thedirection of the arrow the roll I I would be released by the rotary disc3; but it is axially displaceable to the left and thus capable ofbecoming 'disengagedfrom the disc 3 before the main shaft 2 begins torack. When the main shaft is not racked the roll I2 of the lever 9 iscarried by the earn 4 and, during racking, passes to the earn 5. The cam4 makes possible the risingand lowering motions of the narrowing machine6, or the covering needles I thereof from inoperative (Figs. 1 and 2) toinitial working position and back again (Fig.4), and the cam 5 causesthe motions of the narrowing machine 6 and the covering needles I frominitial working (Fig. 4) to thenormal 10w position and back again. aReferring to Fig. 1, the narrowing shaft I is 3 the narrowing machineiinsofar as the shaft I turns. If the lever B with its roll II isinfluenced,

' by the'rotary-disc 3, then the narrowing shai'tl" will beheld securein such turned position so that without causing racking of the camshaft2 and 6 inits upper position. If, however, the influence of the rotarydisc 3 is removed from the lever 8 then this lever and its roll II willremain freely suspended asv the roll II is axially shiftable on thelever 8' and therefore the lever 9 with its roll l2 will be influencedby its cams 4 and 5 and lifts and lowers the narrowing machine 6 bymeans of the vertical bar III which is connectedwith the narrowingmachine 6 at 20. The lever 8 with its roll I I will remain freelysuspended during this time. f

The device functions as follows:

Assumed plain courses are being worked requiring no racking of thecamshaft 2, so that the rotary disc 3 holds the narrowing machine 6 andthe covering needles I- in inoperative position. In the next coursenarrowing is to be effected, and the roll I I is therefore drawn to theleft from the rotary disc 3. The position of the'camshaft 2 is now suchthat the roll I2 of the lever 9 rests on the arc portion I3 of the cam4, the radius of the are I 3 coinciding with the radius of the rotarydisc 3. The "withdrawalof the roll II from the disc 3 is thusaccompanied by transfer of the actuation of the covered needles to thecam 4 the cam 4 lowers the narrowingmachine 6 or needles I intoinitialworking position (Fig. 4), which might take place when the springneedles l4 go down for-pressing (Fig. 3). When the,

spring needles I4 are in knocking over position,

the covering needles I will move ah'eady into initial working position,as indicated in Fig. 4, where the camshaft 2 will be racked wherebythespring needles vI4 will receive the known necessarymotions and theroller lever 9 'pass under the control of the cam 5 which will lowerthe, covering needles I and then raise them again to a positioncorresponding to initial position. When the covering needles havereached thislatter position, return racking of the camshaft 2 takesplace whereby the cam 4 is actuated again. By returning the roll I I thecam 4 is then replaced again by thedisc 3.

If covering is carried out uninterruptedly, the

disc 3 is not actuated again during the production of the goods, and theroll ll remains constantly near the disc-3 to the left thereof. I

I claim: 4 1. A fiat knitting frame comprising fashioning mechanism withvertically reciprocating covering needles, spring needles cooperatingwith the covering needles, a cam shaft capable of being" racked duringfashioning, and a cam on said shaft 2. A flat knitting frame comprisingfashioningmechanism with vertically reciprocating covering needles,spring needles cooperating with the covering needles, a cam shaftcapable of being racked during fashioning, and cams on said shaft, oneof said cams causing covering needles standing before fashioning intheir inoperative positions above the spring needles to commence theirdownward transfer movements before the cam shaft is racked and the camsbeing so shaped and arranged that during the racking of the cam shaftthe covering needles are brought only from an initial working positionto a low position and back-to a position corresponding to the initialworking position and the motions of the covering needles frominoperative to initial working position and back again taking placebefore the racking'and after the return of the cam shaft respectively.

3. A flat knitting frame comprising fashioning mechanism with verticallyreciprocating covering needles, spring needles cooperating with thecovering needles, a cam shaft capable of being racked during fashioning,a rotary disc on the and lowering motions of the covering needles frominoperative to initial working positions and back again and the othercam controlling the motions of the covering points from initial working7 tolow positions.

4. A flat knitting frame comprising fashioning mechanism with verticallyreciprocating covering needles, spring needles cooperating with thecovering needles, a cam shaft capable of being racked during fashioning,a rotary disc on the cam shaft for holding the covering needlesin'inoperative positions, two cams disposed on said shaft, one of saidcams controlling the rising and lowering motions of the covering needlesfrom inoperative to initial ,working positions and back again and theother cam controlling the motions of the covvering needles from initialworking to low positions, and means for rendering said rotary discineffective during continued fashioning.

. ARTHUR RICHTER.

